Friday, December 9, 2011

Dream Art

Eureka! I've hit the mother-load.
After my long silence I did some praying, and was a bit overwhelmed with the response.
I knew God was doing something, but I wasn't sure what.
I had promised to write down my dreams (as you can see from the last post), at least in my own journal, if not on here. Well, I didn't. I'd wake up after a night full of dreams and say, "those were silly, obviously just about a TV show, or about some random thing I saw yesterday", so I would dismiss them as unworthy of being written down. Then I had a dream one morning that I fully intended to write down, but the minute my head left the pillow, it was gone. This happened for a few days and then they disappeared completely for a couple days.
I'm no dummy, I knew it was God's way of saying, "who says YOU get to pick which ones are worth writing down? Didn't you ask for dreams, and I gave them to you?" That night I had my husband pray with me for me my dreams to return, and I promised I would write them down... again. This time I kept my promise, and so did God. I had four dreams that night, and I've had four every night since.
I have written to you before about the importance of three in one night.
Well, here I am having four each night, and thinking, "OK, what's THAT about?" So I asked.
It's about creative abundance. The number 4 (biblically speaking)is about God's creation.
Four elements: earth, air, fire, and water.
Four directions: north, south, east, and west.
Four divisions of a day: morning, noon, evening, and night.
Four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
(There are lots of other 4's, but you get the picture)
Me having four dreams each night just showed me that God gives us over and above what we ask for, and that creativity is meant to play a role with my dreams.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned on here before my thought of doing paintings about my dreams. It has always felt overwhelming to me. Dreams are so BIG visually, and seem impossible to capture. I know I can't make paintings of exactly what I see at night, but it occurred to me after much thought, that the message of the dream is what's important, so If I can capture that, then yes I can paint my dreams. The idea of painting my dreams has been glaring me in the face all week with the mass amounts of dreams I've been having.
God knows that I do not work well without a little pressure of a deadline, so on Wednesday when I went to pick up my art from our Swell Sister group art show, I asked about the owner's offer to have a show of my own some time in 2012.
I am happy to report that I now have the deadline of a show looming in my future... in August 2012. I will be creating (hopefully) a whole show's worth of dream paintings. Of course I'll keep you posted on which dreams I paint and how that's going.
I will, most likely, start with all new dreams, as they are in abundance these days. But if by chance I have a dry spell, I will look back over old dreams too.
Just in case you have any favorites from the blog, let me know, and I'll see if a painting pops into my head. :-)

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Conviction

Once again, I'm writing with an apology to myself and others that it has been SO long since my last post.
Once again, I have let my dreams go unwritten,and neglected.
In my bible study this morning (along with two other incidences this week) I have been reminded that gifts left idle are not honoring God in any way.
A few weeks ago I began reading a book about "seeing" into the Spiritual realm. I haven't gotten very far, because I haven't taken it very seriously. I was very excited about the book at first, and then when I didn't do the daily "exercises" the first two days (due to not having the right atmosphere for the exercises at that exact moment), I quit. I haven't picked up the book but once since.
As you know, I have always had dreams (some with significant meaning, some with out), but I got a little jealous of those who can see spiritual things in plain day, and I wanted that gift as well. (It's no sin to desire greater gifts BTW, but often we have what we have because we are not ready for more.)
I have a walking partner whom I've been telling all of this to, and she confided in me that she would not want to ask for such a gift as being able to see the spiritual realm, due to the possible "freaky" factor. Funny thing is, since we had that conversation and I desired such a gift and she adamantly did not, she has had instances of seeing, and I have not. I have however, had more dreams in the past few weeks than I have had in the few months prior.
Each day I wake up (and sometimes at multiple times during the night) with a very interesting and vivid dream. Yet I have not written ANY down. Yesterday, on our walk, we re-hashed the "seeing" conversation, and she suggested keeping my dream journal and a small light by my bed (instead of in the bathroom where I have it now). Just so I don't have an excuse. I didn't do it last night. I had three dreams last night. Only one that I now partially remember, and I did not write any down. I chose to sleep instead. (I slept in... til 8:00.)
My bible study this morning was based on 2 Timothy 1:6-7. It clearly said to me, "The gift that you are letting be idle, stir it up. You have the power and the sound mind to use it. Quit asking for more when you're not using what I've given you." Conviction. Big time.

I can't guarantee that I will write all my dreams on this blog like I once had in mind to do. But I will put my journal by my bed, and I will write the ones that God tells me to share here on the blog.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

I'm a Good Mom

After numerous days of bad dreams, I finally had some good ones.

The only bad one you haven't heard about since my last post was me with a bunch of teen girls (friends of my daughter), having a sleep over in which 4 or 5 guys were trying to sneak in through the windows and kill us. No fun!

So last night when I had three dreams all about the same pleasant topic, I was greatly relieved.
In the first dream, which I don't remember much, my mom's mom, "Nanny", was telling me I was a good mom. In the last dream I had, which I don't remember much either, my dad's mom, "Grandma", was telling me I was a good mom.
In the middle dream, which I remember quite well, an older Hispanic lady was telling me that my husband and I were doing a good job at parenting.
You may recall that three dreams in one night all with the same "message" means that it's a definite. Like if you had three dreams that your house was on fire, in the same night... I'd get some insurance, or go to counseling if you feel the "fire" is symbolic.

The second dream in it's entirety was as follows:
My family and I were coming into a large hotel room and having all kinds of family fun frolicking on the bed wrestling, telling stories, and getting back rubs. At some point an older Hispanic lady came in. I walked around the place shutting doors and windows and getting ready for bed. We all slept on the same bed... even the older lady. Then as we woke up, we sat on the bed and talked. I looked around the room only to find that we were in a huge open room with tons of beds lined up side to side, like you'd imagine an orphanage or war hospital. (No bunk beds). One by one people started waking up from their beds and grabbing their bags and leaving. I immediately had two thoughts; one was "oh no, our talking must have disturbed them... I didn't know they were there", and the second thought was a revelation about what kind of place this was. It was for people who worked in the city and could not commute home each night, so they stayed in this old Laundromat that had been turned into a shelter. The people didn't use the small bathroom that was at the shelter because there was only one and they could get ready (even leaving with messy hair in yesterday's clothes) at work. We had somehow stayed there without that being our story. As people were leaving, a lady cried out in a panic. Her stuff had been moved and her friend was not in her usual bed. It turned out that her friend was the older lady that had slept with us. Our lady ran over to the panicked lady and calmed her down, handing her her stuff and saying that she had been there the whole time etc.
I went over to make sure things were OK, and that is when the older Hispanic lady gave me a hug and whispered in my ear that my husband and I were doing a good job at parenting. I was very happy, and a peace flooded my heart.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Mice in the Kitchen, Forgotten Son, and Stuck Car.

It's been a while, I know.
My excuse (though not a good one) is that it's summer, and I have been sleeping in. I wake up so late that I don't feel like I have any time to spend typing.

For the past two nights, however, my dreams have been bad and pointed, so I thought I'd take a minute to write them down since I woke up a little early this morning.

Sunday night I had a dream that there were mice in my grandmother's kitchen. As you may remember I consider my grandmother the source of my family's spiritual legacy. When I dream of her house it is always a mansion, and typically very full. Sunday night's dream was no exception. The house was open and grand, with room for hundreds of people. I had been wandering around the first floor of the house, and came into the kitchen. There I found my dog nosing at the cabinets. I looked closer and he was killing a mouse. The mouse had on clothes (like Stuart Little). As I stood there, another mouse appeared and then another. All were dressed, but unwelcome just the same. I killed a few, and my husband killed a few. We were squishing them, halving them... whatever we could do to kill them.
As you know, the kitchen is the heart of the home, and mice are typically considered pests. I have been praying for my grandmother ever since as she has battled cancer and other ailments in the past, and her health is not the greatest even now. I can't think of any other meaning than disease in her "heart", (whether it be literal, or something like worry).

Last night's dreams were disturbing for other reasons.
In the first, I left my son alone in a crowded place, and in the second I could not get to my car.

The first dream began with my son and I walking through a flea market type environment. He was picking up all kinds of things that he wanted... mostly sweet treats, like popsicles. I showed him an area of gallons of ice cream and we talked about getting one even though we are both on a diet. (The diet was talked about repeatedly in the dream.) After we had gotten all the things he wanted I told him I would meet him back at the car and we would drive "home". I went out a back way through a warehouse guided by a worker who was hitting on me. I had four pen caps in my hand and then my back pocket. (Don't know what that was about.) When I got to the car I forgot to wait for my son. I instead drove all the way to the hotel/cabin, where my husband and daughter were already there and asleep. I went to bed, and fell asleep too. When I rolled over a little while later it dawned on me that I had forgotten my son. I panicked, and stumbled to the car still half asleep. I thought about the fact that I was too sleepy to drive. Then I thought about my phone battery. I looked down to see multiple missed calls from my son and even a very sad picture he had taken of himself. I also saw that my battery was in the red zone. I panicked more. Oh no! How am I going to get a hold of him? How is he going to call me? I ran back into the cabin to get my husband's phone, all the while thinking "what if my son's battery is almost dead?" I woke myself up with all the panic.

I went back to sleep after a quick pee brake. The next dream was better, but still bad.
I was with my two best friends from high school; we had been at some event and were now walking back to my car. We got to the parking garage and could not find my car. Then we found a hole in the back of the car garage down to another level of cars. I could see my car on the lower level. The cars were crammed together like sardines with absolutely no room to drive them out. There wasn't even a ramp to get them out of the hole. I jumped down the hole onto the hood of another car and walked around on car hoods to see if I could figure out something. Realizing that this was a towing company I deducted that the cars had been lowered down with a crane. So my friends and I went to find the owner. I found a worker sitting in a shack out in a dusty yard, feet up, talking on the phone. I asked if he could help me. He was very rude and denied me help. He mentioned the owner, pointed him out, and said he was busy too. No one would be able to help us. It was extremely frustrating. The dream ended in frustration after minutes of trying to get the owner's attention.

Meanings? Well, I think that the diet talk and the fact that all of our purchases were food items not on our diet, speaks to what the dream with my son was about. I have nearly reached my goal weight and my days of dieting will soon be over... or so I hope. (Even the worker hitting on me speaks of where I'm at in my weight.) My son is just now starting his weight loss journey (this time around). I think that the dream is reminding me not to leave him behind. Not to go back and "sleep" with my skinny daughter and husband. The world offers many temptations that I can't just say, "that's not on our diet, but just this once we could get it"; (which are the kinds of things I was saying in the dream).

Personal cars in dreams typically speak about your personal life. I don't particularly like the idea of my life stuck underground without having the ways and means of getting it out myself. I do like that my best friends are with me the whole time. I really don't have other thoughts about the meaning of that dream.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Floating and Peeing

OK, so I had a very strange but cool dream last night.
There was more to it, but this is the only part I remember.

I was sitting on the potty, peeing, when I started to float upwards. I pulled myself back down to the toilet seat because I was not done peeing. As soon as I let go of the seat, I started floating again... still peeing.
At that point I thought about what was happening, and realized how cool it was that I was floating, so I went with it. (Mind you, this entire dream is feeling VERY realistic, and at this point, I think it's really happening, because the setting is exactly my house. It's as if I got up in the middle of the night to pee... which I do often.)
I floated to the ceiling and was bending forward so as not to hit the ceiling. I was still "seated" but rolled forward. I floated into the bedroom (still peeing) and woke up my husband. "Look, look, I'm flying!" I said. (All the while, peeing on the floor, the bed, everything.) He woke up and looked up at me. He wasn't impressed; he was more concerned that I was peeing on the bed. So I floated back to the bathroom. It was at this point, before I actually made it to the toilet, that I realized I was dreaming and woke up to roll over.

As gross as the continual pee thing was, I had a blast floating around my room. It felt so real, and I am thankful that I got to experience that.

As for meaning. I would almost surely conclude that it has to do with my weight struggle. I am feeling good about my progress, but I am still majorly struggling with the discipline of it all. I am getting rid of a lot of wrong thinking, and other stuff that I'd equate with piss. :-) However, even though I'm floating (which is awesome), my husband is not impressed; he's more concerned with the "piss" that is coming out, which is unpleasant.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Facing a Storm, Dad's Sand Mound, and Complicated Water Works.

Three dreams in fairly rapid succession last night... and you know what that means. (Three dreams in a row... IF they go together, are dreams with an unchangeable message.)

My first dream was on a boat. I was with my family. The boat had an inside and an outside. I was down inside the boat and asked my son if he wanted to go up to the deck. I knew when I asked (and so did he) that we would not be able to go back inside if we chose to stay outside. On the deck my parents were dealing with boat type stuff and very quickly a storm rose up. The storm was massive. We all had on rain ponchos and were basically holding on for dear life. One wave came up and over the side of the boat, washing the floor of the deck. Then another much larger wave started to form on the opposite side of the boat (the side to my left, which was actually starboard, because I was facing back). The wave looked like it was three stories high and paused for a moment before it crashed over us. I was so frightened of it, but my mom wasn't. Then as it hit it fell with the force of tap water. We were fine. I looked at my mom and she gave me a very knowing look. That was the end of dream #1.

Dream #2 was on the shore. My parents and my kids and I were laying on a beach. It was like we had been washed ashore, but it was pleasant. All I could see of the scene was our legs and sometimes arms and the sand they were on with the bubbles from the tide that was rolling in and out. It was very peaceful. We talked awhile and then sat up. My view was not of the ocean. The camera of my dream was as if I was in the water and focused in on my dad's legs and arms as he built up a mound of sand to "protect" his spot from water coming in. The mound he had made was only about 16" wide and high, and the water just went around it, making it completely obsolete.

Now the tricky part is that I don't remember if the conversation that I remember goes to dream #2 or dream #3. It seems to fit better in #3, but I almost want to put it in with #2. So I'll stick it in the middle:
The conversation was about my dad having a job overseas. I think the area they were talking about was in Northern Europe. But the words that were being said sounded like they didn't want him there, so they probably wouldn't move after all.

In dream #3 we were visiting the Gores. It was my family and my parents and we were walking down a street in Northern Europe. The Gores lived there and I guess it was where my dad's possible job was... but as we know from the conversation mentioned above... he wasn't going to take the position. Jennifer Gore (My mom's BF) was still alive and walking with us. Monnie Gore and my dad were talking and the kids (all the correct age for 2011) were walking along too. The shops had things like wooden dolls and coo-coo-clocks. The streets were cobblestone and there was a quaint little bridge that reminded me of my favorite visit to Germany. We went to the Gores' house which was not like any I have dreamt of before, other than it being on a hill. It was on a crowded street where the houses share an outside wall. Inside people were talking about getting hungry and where we would go to eat. I guess my son must have had some say, because Taco Bell was the decision. Everyone got up to go walk to the Taco Bell, which I guess was down the street a couple blocks. I had to go to the bathroom and wash my hands. I went in the bathroom but left the door open (or maybe there was no door). It was small and in the front of the master bedroom. Standing at the sink which was wedged in a corner, I could see into the living room and down to the kitchen. (There was brownish/bronze old shag carpet in the living room.) The sink was ill fitted into the space on the small Formica counter top. I couldn't get the water to come on. The nob that seemed to be the way to turn it on just leaked a little at the base when I messed with it. I tried one more thing, then looked out to the living room for help. Everyone else had left except my mom and Jennifer who were waiting on me. Jennifer came over to help. She grabbed two different chords; one looked like an old kitchen sink pull-out nozzle, (You know the ones from the 70's with the black head and little squeeze trigger, and a silver ring right next to the head, and near the hose, which was also silvery.) and the other chord was more like a tasseled rope that you'd pull for service at an old timely hotel. The tasseled one came from under the sink and the first was just where you'd expect it to be... but the water came out of a whole other faucet that looked normal for a bathroom.
That was the end the 3rd dream.

So the question is... is there a theme? Do they fit together? or not? and either way, what are they saying?

The first dream reminded me a lot of one I had not long ago where the line of church people were going to "camp" with all their stuff, and I asked my son if he wanted to go home instead, and he said "Yes", knowing, that that was a final decision. In this dream the "final decision" was to be protected under the deck, or out in the storm. We chose the storm. And fortunately it turned out that the storm didn't hurt us. I really liked that dream. I love getting a message that whatever is coming, isn't going to hurt me. It's the same message I got a while back in my dream about the Bay area cracking off into the ocean, but that we would be fine.

The second dream was interesting to me because of its perspective. I never saw faces, not even chests. I was looking at my dad from a place on the beach that I was not sitting. It was a third person... very zoomed lens kind of dream. (Most of the time when I have third person dreams I can see the whole scene, so this was odd. It was also odd to have my dad build something so pitiful and think it may work.

The third dream, which was the "fullest" of the three (though not as meaningful as the first to me), was one of just a few over my life where I have dreamt of a deceased person being alive in the present. Jennifer died a few years ago.
I'm not sure if my dad's job predicament had any meaning in the dream. My parents have always talked about going back over seas if Dad could get a pastoral position in a church in Italy. I'm not sure how often he looks into that possibility, but I know he has a few times.
The Gores lived near us when we lived in Italy, so them being in that part of the world makes sense (even though they live in Colorado now).
The state of the house... having shared walls, having an old shag carpet, and the sink with the retro nozzle and Formica counter top, were all things that didn't speak well of the situation of the house. My mom has mentioned on occasion how much Jennifer held that family together, and now that she is gone it's just not the same. I see that played out with her being the one to help me, and even how she had to pull on two things to make the water work correctly.

Anyway, I'll have to think further about any theme. Right now, I kind of see them as separate. Though the first and second could be related, and the second and third (with regards to my father's job and sand mound) could be related.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Swimming with Little Audrey

Last night's dream came out of left field.
In a couple of weeks we are going to Hawaii. My parents are going to meet my family there, and they are bringing with them their "god-daughter", Audrey Gore. My mom and Audrey's mom were best friends. Audrey's mom died a few years ago and her dad remarried without complete approval of the kids. Things have been awkward ever since.
Anyway, Audrey is now graduating from college, and for her present my parents offered to bring her to Hawaii with us. So I will be seeing her soon. (Last time I saw her was at Thanksgiving, which was the first time in years.) However, I have not been actively thinking of Audrey at all, and that is why the dream caught me off guard.
I have never dreamt specifically about Audrey. I have dreamt about her "family", especially back when her mother was alive. I've dreamt of their house often in the past too, but never Audrey specifically. I know this dream was to prepare me for Hawaii in some way, now I just have to figure it out. I thought the back-story would best be told before we got into the dream, so there you have it.

In the dream I was in a very large and deep pool holding baby (1 1/2- 2 yrs old) Audrey near the edge. She had her arms around my neck and I was holding the edge with one hand and cradling her with the other. My parents were swimming with us. The pool was fairly crowded, but not overly so. It was Olympic sized, and didn't have a shallow end. Concrete was all around. Because of the depth and the crowd I talked to my parents about taking Audrey someplace else. I got out and we walked outside to a place I had been before. It was a hot tub that's been in my dreams before... not too long ago. I got in with Audrey. There were college age(the age that Audrey is in real life) boys in the hot tub. While we were in the hot tub (which had two levels; we were in the lower one), I noticed the scenery. It was very different from what had been around the hot tub in my previous dream. It was like a swamp/lake. I've dreamt of that place before too. (In the previous dream I think there were alligators and I was swimming for my life.) Anyway, as I looked back the hot tub even had moss and algae growing on the edges. It all looked very old and run down. At this point I thought that the area was an old camp ground I had visited in my youth and that things had just gotten over grown. I picked up Audrey and we made our way up and out of the hot tub. (As we did, I worried about the boys noticing that I hadn't shaved. haha.) One mentioned to another that I was old when I was going up the steps. I turned and said, "I'm only 35!"
I looked down at the swamp/lake below (the hot tub was up on a cliff... but only like 20 feet high). There was an old mock pirate ship that I remembered from my "camp days". It was all covered with algae and moss and yuck, but there were still boys playing on it, so we went down to it. (I don't know how... that part kind of skipped.) We walked around on the ship briefly then decided to go back up. The side of the cliff had tree roots gnarling in and out of it and some trunks that started at the base were half buried in the side too. Audrey held on around my neck as I pulled myself up the side of the cliff on a rope/vine that was used for this purpose. Half way up, I noted that I had not taken the easy way, and that only 10 feet to my right there was a much better way. We would go down and try that way instead. Then I woke up.

When Audrey was little we all lived in Italy. Every now and again we would go to indoor water parks (usually in Austria). I can remember at least once going to one with Audrey and her family. It was the one time I attempted a flip off a high dive. I knocked the wind out of myself and couldn't breath even when I reached the surface of the water. It was so scary. The indoor section of the dream reminded me of that pool though... no shallow end, big, somewhat crowded with strangers, and scary.
Swimming in dreams is typically a refreshing or cleansing thing. However, noting the swampiness of our setting outside, I'm not sure this "cleansing" went as planned.
The fact that Audrey was represented as a baby just breaks my heart. She is the youngest of her siblings, and has no doubt had the hardest time of any of them with her mother's death and father's remarriage. She is worried about what the rest of her life is going to look like with college over and not feeling welcome to stay at her old house. It's a very deep pool indeed to be in.
The outdoor part of the dream seems like a lot of "trying" on my part, without any real success. A hot tub full of boys her age could be an attempt to lose her sorrow by being preoccupied with boys, but being a baby shows maybe she's not quite ready for that. (Maybe)
Then I take her down to a childhood play structure (the pirate ship) but it's all gross too. There's corrosion on both the hot tub and the pirate ship. So keeping her in a "child" state is not the answer either.
Then there's the mystery of going up out of that situation the hard way... realizing there is an easier way, but waking up before I took the easy way... all the while, Audrey still as a baby around my neck.

Well... I pray that our time in Hawaii would be healing, growing, and refreshing. I hope is some way, I'm able to help, and not make things worse. Dreams are typically warnings when they show bad things, so I consider myself warned to not make "cleansing plans" for Audrey. I'll just follow God's lead, not my own ideas.